This is my tenth Best of the Year list, but it didn’t even occur to me to observe that milestone by doing anything differently this year. So this list is going to work exactly the same way as the previous nine: I’ve categorized all of the children’s and YA books I’ve read this year into seven sections (I sometimes do eight, but I’m not including any novels in verse this year) and picked 3-7 of my personal favorites from each category. I’ve also included seven runners-up for the picture book category. Since I previously reviewed a couple of the books that ended up on this list, those titles are hyperlinked to my earlier post, which will be a significantly longer review. Of course, as always, this list is just my personal opinion and there are certainly many excellent books that came out in 2023 that I didn’t especially enjoy myself, or that I never even read. In particular, there were a few graphic novels I had planned to read that I just couldn’t acquire in time for them to make the list. As a final disclaimer, for what it’s worth, I am aware of the results of ALA’s Youth Media Awards earlier this week, but I had already compiled this list and written each of my blurbs prior to that, so, for better or for worse, none of the following thoughts and opinions were in any way influenced by the awards.
Picture Books:
The Tree and the River by Aaron Becker
This wordless picture book is a perfect example of the fact that picture books are not just for little kids. With a series of pictures from the exact same vantage point, it follows the history of a community in an alternate world. But, as the title implies, the river and the tree are there the whole time. First, we see a small farming settlement develop into a walled city. As technology advances, the city takes on a steampunk-inspired aesthetic that gradually becomes more futuristic until it devolves into a dystopian landscape. Then, just as the tree is about to die, it sheds an acorn that grows into a new little tree. And who knows? The final picture features two people, indicating the possibility that a new community will grow in the same spot. Without a single written word, this book raises thought-provoking questions about whether history is linear or cyclical and about the relationship between the natural world and society.
Night in the City by Julie Downing
It takes a lot of work from a lot of people to keep a city running, and some of those people work night shifts. This beautiful picture book shows several different night-shift workers in several different job fields as they get ready for work, say goodbye to their families, commute to their workplaces, perform various essential tasks, and return home in the early morning. The second-person narration addresses the reader directly to contrast this nocturnal work schedule with the child’s cozy night at home, but since the nighttime workers all appear happy and seem to enjoy their jobs, the message comes across as positive and uplifting. Especially heartwarming is the hospital scene where a baby is welcomed into the world in the middle of the night. Many young readers will be fascinated by the pages that use cross-sections of buildings to show numerous people awake and busy at the same time. The color palette is mostly yellow and dark blue, which beautifully emphasizes the contrast between awake and asleep, between busy people and resting people.
Mine! By Candace Fleming, illustrated by Eric Rohmann
Several different animals discover a red apple just about to fall from the tree. They each declare it their own and lie in wait for its descent. None of them is willing to consider sharing, so who will end up getting to eat the apple? The rhyming text is full of fun onomatopoeias and technically-made-up words that are perfectly understandable in the context. The overall effect is humorous and excellent for building early literacy skills in toddlers and preschoolers. Each animal’s expectations are illustrated in a thought bubble, which adds additional educational value for very young readers. Adults can use this book to introduce cognitive concepts by asking leading questions such as, “What does Deer think is going to happen next? What does Bear think is going to happen next? Who do you think is going to be right?” Rohmann’s illustrations were created by relief printmaking on stained paper; the result is simple but distinctive pictures that have texture and thick black outlines.
Dear Stray by Kirsten Hubbard, illustrated by Susan Gal
This story begins when a young girl picks out a “sticky, scratchy, spiky” kitten from a shelter. Her family doesn’t understand why she would choose that cat over the more fluffy, soft, and docile options, but the girl knows that she and this aggressive stray kitten need each other. Later, on one particular “spiky” day when everything seems to be going wrong, the kitten disappears, but (spoiler) the kitten later comes home and all is right in the end. This simple but poignant story describes the bond between a child and a pet, especially when they’re both a little too wild for their surroundings. The second person narrative voice and the repetition of the salutation “dear stray” give this story a poetic tone. The text is brief enough for older toddlers and younger preschoolers, but this book will probably be most appreciated by early-school-age children who are learning to read independently.
Street Monsters by Barbara Joose, illustrated by Kevin M. Barry
Don’t judge this book by its cover; the silly street sign on the cover doesn’t do justice to the detailed, atmospheric illustrations inside the book. On a snowy night in the city, a young boy is kept awake by the scary sounds of monsters outside. Together with his father, he identifies each of the “street monsters”, including snow plows, delivery vehicles, and buses. The boy assures his father that the monsters are “helping monsters” and goes back to bed. Toddlers and preschoolers will enjoy the rhyming text, the monster imagery, and the juxtaposition of the imagined monster with the real vehicle. Slightly older children will also appreciate the comedic element of the child projecting his fears onto the adult. The book concludes with informational blurbs about the various city vehicles depicted in the story, describing their purpose and why they make the noises they do.
Just Like Grandma by Kim Rogers, illustrated by Julie Flett
A young Wichita girl named Becca wants to be just like her grandmother, who is accomplished at beadwork, dancing, and painting. Meanwhile, Grandma admires Becca’s basketball skills and is proud to celebrate Becca’s success at tryouts. The text follows a pattern; each time Becca joins Grandma in one of these activities, they work together until Grandpa calls them in for a meal he has prepared. The exception is Becca’s basketball tryout, when they go out for pizza. This simple but beautiful story about familial bonds concludes by pointing out that Becca and Grandma both have their wish because they really are just like each other. This book includes a glossary as well as an author’s note, some information about beadwork, and a letter from author Cynthia Leitich Smith about the value of role models.
How to Count to 1: (And Don’t Even THINK About Bigger Numbers!) by Caspar Salmon, illustrated by Matt Hunt
Originally published in the UK last year, this is a hilarious spoof of a counting book that is sure to be widely enjoyed. It begins simply, with an image of a single apple and then a single elephant for the reader to count. As the book progresses, the illustrations get more complex, but the instructions stay the same: the specific thing we’re told to count is never pictured more than once. (Although it is later hinted that maybe we are allowed to count the additional items after all, and just maybe they all add up to a nice big number like a hundred.) The preschool-level humor is perfectly complemented by colorful, cartoonish artwork. Despite the goofy concept, this book will actually be very helpful in helping young readers master the rules of one-to-one correspondence and cardinality, which will set the groundwork for later math skills. For that reason, I would recommend this for younger toddlers as well as older preschoolers who already know how to count.
Other Picture Books:
In the Night Garden by Carin Berger
Big by Vashti Harrison
It’s Fall by Renee Kurilla
Scroll by Hui Li
This Little Kitty by Karen Obuhanych
Hello, Mister Blue by Daria Peoples
Pick a Perfect Egg by Patricia Toht, illustrated by Jarvis
Readers:
See the Ghost: Three Stories About Things You Cannot See by David LaRochelle, illustrated by Mike Wohnoutka
Just like the previous books in this series, See the Cat from 2020 and See the Dog from 2021, this early reader relies on interaction between the text and the picture to tell a much funnier story than what would otherwise be possible with such a controlled vocabulary. The humor is perfectly geared for kindergarten-aged readers. For example, in the first of the three short stories, a ghost scares itself by looking in a mirror. The two other stories introduce the wind as an anthropomorphic (but invisible) character and a fairy who is likewise invisible. I highly recommend this book for children who are new to reading full sentences. With that being said, this book includes slightly more complex sentence structures and more multi-syllable words than its predecessors, so I recommend introducing the books in this series one at a time, in the order of their publication dates.
I See a Bat by Paul Meisel
A dog stares out the window and sees a bat, the stars, and the moon, before realizing that his food bowl is empty and he must wait until morning for his boy to refill it. This would be a perfect first book for a child who is just barely ready for full sentences. (Especially a child who loves dogs and/or bats!) It has only one sentence per double-page spread and each of those sentences contains only three or four mono-syllable words. The entire story is told using only ten distinct words, eleven if you count “bat” and “bats” as two different words. Children who are early in the learning-to-read process will appreciate that this book technically has a plot, but a very simple one that doesn’t require them to remember details while they are focusing on sounding out individual words.
How to Go Hiking by Jean Reagan, illustrated by Lee Wildish
From the creators of the popular 2012 picture book How to Babysit a Grandpa, this simple story shows a boy going on a hiking trip with his uncle. The book briefly describes what they do to prepare, what they see on their hike, and the blister that the uncle’s new hiking boots give him. Most sentences are in the four- to- seven words range and the text includes quite a few multi-syllable words, but none that will be unfamiliar to the average kindergartener or first grader. Large font and colorful, full-page illustrations will make this book feel accessible even to young readers who haven’t previously read books at this reading level. Recommended for beginner readers who have an interest in outdoor activities.
Fox Has a Problem by Corey R. Tabor
When Fox tries to use a giant fan to blow his lost kites down from the trees, he ends up creating bigger problems for the other forest animals. First, the fan blows all the leaves into Bear’s den, and then, when Fox tries to solve that problem with a vacuum cleaner, the vacuum cleaner’s bag blocks the opening to Rabbit’s burrow. In order to solve problems without creating a domino effect of new problems, Fox must learn a lesson about teamwork and listening to others’ suggestions. Like the other readers on this list, this book uses the illustrations to convey some of the plot points in order to stick to a controlled vocabulary suitable for new readers. Most pages have a single sentence and none of the sentences are very long or complex, although there are quite a few multi-syllable words. The woodland animal theme and autumnal color scheme may add an additional appeal factor for some readers.
Chapter Books:
The Princess in Black and the Prince in Pink by Shannon & Dean Hale, illustrated by LeUyen Pham
The Princess in Black is back for the tenth installment of her monster-fighting adventures. Like all nine of the previous books, which have made it onto my best-of-the-year lists every single year, this book is a perfect middle ground between early readers and chapter books. Although it is longer than most early readers with a more detailed plot and several “big” words, it also features colorful full-page illustrations, large font, and slapstick comedy including a climactic battle scene. In this particular case, the monsters are a herd of angry flightless birds (an emu and two ostriches) and the Princess in Black’s battle tactics are dancing and decorating, with the help of a mysterious new male co-star.
Trim Helps Out by Deborah Hopkinson, illustrated by Kristy Caldwell
Trim is new to his job as a ship’s cat and he’s not entirely sure what his responsibilities are. The ship’s parrot Jack gives him some instructions and information, but Trim is quickly sent on a new, “more important” job by a gray-furred, long-tailed stranger he probably shouldn’t have trusted. This is the second book in a new series, based on the real historical ship’s cat who sailed with British Explorer Matthew Flinders from 1801 to 1803. I haven’t read the first book myself, but this one introduces its lovable feline protagonist adequately to function as a stand-alone book. Although this book looks like an early reader because of its dimensions, I have chosen to categorize it as a chapter book. Not only is it divided into five chapters, but the historical fiction context, vocabulary, sentence structure, and amount of text all put it at about a second-grade reading level. However, the full-color pictures on every page and the comical animal characters make it suitable for young readers who lack confidence and don’t fully realize that they are ready for chapter books.
Rhinos at Recess by Mary Pope Osborne, illustrated by AG Ford
I’m aware that the chapter book section of my best-of-the-year list looks pretty similar every year because, in addition to the newest Princess in Black book, it almost always includes at least one Magic Tree House book. I stand by that; I have loved this series since the late ‘90s when I was a tween borrowing the books from my little brother, and all these years later, I still think that the Magic Tree House books are some of the most well-written and educational books at this reading level, even if they do feel pretty formulaic now that there are 66 of them. (The numbering starts over after the first 28, so Rhinos at Recess counts as #37) To be honest, I’ve only read one of the two new titles in the series, so by default, this is the one that makes the list. In this book, Jack and Annie travel to the African grassland to save a mother and baby rhinoceros from poachers. Recommended for kids who are reading at a 2nd-3rd grade level and are already familiar with the series. For those who are not already familiar with Jack and Annie, it would be better to start with the first 28 books.
Graphic Novels:
Alphabuddies: G is First! By Beth Bacon and Karen Kane, illustrated by Eric Barclay
The letter G would like to have a turn being first in the alphabet, but A says G can never be first. If the order of the alphabet is changed, no one will ever be able to learn how to read, and reading will be destroyed. Or will it? Although this book’s shape, size, and reading level are consistent with the classification of “picture book”, I’ve chosen to categorize it as a graphic novel for the sake of this list because each page is divided into several panels and the text is contained entirely in word bubbles, that is, the dialogue between the anthropomorphized letters. This page layout makes it more suited for independent reading than for an adult to read aloud to a child. The humor is likewise geared towards children in the five-to-eight-year-old range.
Squished by Megan Wagner Lloyd and Michelle Mee Nutter
Eleven-year-old Avery Lee needs something to change. She doesn’t really mind that her family of seven kids is loud and chaotic and she’s the default babysitter for the five “little kids”. But she could really use some privacy and quality sleep. Just when she’s ready to show her parents her plan for how they can rearrange the bedrooms to give her her own room, they say that they’ve decided to move another sibling into her room to give her older brother his own room. Now Avery is in charge of problem-solving her toddler brother’s resistance to sleep. Avery’s next idea is remodeling the basement to add a bedroom, but her family can’t afford it and none of her fundraising ideas work out. Then Avery’s world turns upside down when she learns that her parents are considering moving. Predictably, this crisis ends up being the solution to Avery’s bedroom dilemma. Her sibling problems and her epiphany about how much she loves her family are a little cliche, but heartwarming nonetheless, and the graphic novel format is perfect for simultaneously depicting the chaos and the affection in Avery’s family. This book will appeal to anyone who enjoys the numerous other realistic, tween-girl-oriented graphic novels that have been so popular over the last 13ish years.
Big Tree by Brian Selznick
In Selznick’s characteristic style, this book blurs the line between graphic novels and a traditional novel format, using a combination of full-page pencil illustrations and standard prose to tell the story of two sycamore seeds trying to find their purpose in the world. Another interesting and distinctive aspect of this book is that it features no human characters and very few animals. In fact, the plants, fungi, and single-cell organisms are only anthropomorphized insofar that they speak to each other. Big Tree is set in the cretaceous period and will appeal to kids with an interest in natural history or botany. The reading level is best suited for upper elementary or middle school.
Middle Grade:
No One Leaves the Castle by Christopher Healy
Murder mystery, fantasy, and absurdist comedy all rolled into one, this book follows the debut adventure of the Lilac, a fourteen-year-old aspiring bounty hunter. Originally, she and her bard sidekick are told that their mission is to apprehend the wizard Runar the Unknowable, who has absconded with the Baron’s prized possession. The Lilac surprises everyone by succeeding, but not only is Runar innocent, he becomes the murder victim at the Castle Angbar later that evening. Before his death, he casts a spell, surrounding the castle in a bubble that keeps all the suspects trapped together. The Lilac must now solve the mystery by interviewing each of the residents, guests, and staff members in the castle. As she does so, she uncovers dark and complicated secrets about each of the numerous other characters. With its intricate plot and distinctive characters, this book fully lives up to its endorsement from Adam Gidwitz, describing it as “if Agatha Christie wrote the funniest D&D campaign in the world.”
The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh
It’s 2020 and thirteen-year-old Matthew has had his life turned upside down by the COVID lockdown. His family has to be extra careful about avoiding exposure since his centenarian great-grandmother, who Matthew calls GG, has moved in with them. Even worse, his journalist father is stuck overseas until travel is safer. Mom doesn’t want Matthew sitting around playing on his Nintendo Switch all the time, so she assigns him to help GG organize her things. Initially, GG doesn’t want to talk about the old pictures and documents that they find in her boxes, but eventually, she opens up about her family history and the famine that her family experienced in Soviet Ukraine. Told through three overlapping narrative perspectives from two different time periods, this book is an immersive description of a historic event that is rarely mentioned in literature or in history books. In addition to depicting the horrors of an oppressive government, a preventable famine, and censorship due to biased journalism, this book also shows great sympathy for the ways in which the COVID pandemic affected the lives of contemporary children. Marsh does an incredible job of tackling all of these intellectual topics within an engaging and suspenseful storyline with a big surprise ending.
The Labors of Hercules Beal by Gary Schmidt
Since twelve-year-old Hercules Beal’s parents died in an accident, he and his adult brother Achilles have been living together and running the family business, a farm and nursery on Cape Cod. At the beginning of the book, Achilles has just decided to send Hercules to a private school for the environmental sciences. Hercules’ new teacher is an eccentric former marine who gives each student in the class a different, year-long assignment that has something to do with Greek mythology. Hercules is, of course, given an assignment based on his namesake. He is supposed to find opportunities to recreate the twelve labors of Hercules and write a series of essays describing his real-life labors and what he has learned from them. Over the course of the school year, Hercules does indeed succeed in numerous large accomplishments that correspond to the twelve labors of Hercules, many of them benefitting his community, his family business, and the school. Along the way, he makes progress in healing from the loss of his parents and he learns that he doesn’t always have to accomplish his labors alone. Full of local color and comical repetition of Hercules’ idiosyncratic expressions, this book does a beautiful job of adding some depth to the common middle-grade trope of kids learning life lessons from unique school assignments.
YA:
Someone Is Always Watching by Kelley Armstrong
Blythe Warren has been part of a close-knit group of friends for her entire life, largely because the research lab where all of their parents work pays for them to go to the same small private school. Blythe is the quintessential good girl of the friend group, dutiful to a fault and overprotective of her sister Sydney. Her friend Tucker is charismatic but a troublemaker, while his sister Tanya is the mean one, and Gabi is sweet and sensitive. But then Gabi suddenly has some kind of mental breakdown. When she stays at school late to check on her friend, Blythe witnesses a horrible bloody scene, but later she remembers nothing. She’s told that she’s had a head injury, the assistant principal committed suicide, and Gabi is in a private hospital recovering from her breakdown. Later, Gabi escapes and attacks Blythe’s sister before going completely missing. As Blythe and her friends attempt to piece together what happened to Gabi and how they can help her, they find out that their families have been hiding far bigger secrets from them all. This suspenseful YA thriller is a darker, more mature take on some of the same plot points and philosophical questions as Gordon Korman’s Masterminds series.
Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood
Mallory Greenleaf used to love chess, but she hasn’t played for years. Her dad is gone, her mom is struggling with chronic illness, and her two younger sisters are dependent on her income. But then Mallory’s friend Easton talks her into a charity chess competition, where Mallory beats world champion Nolan Sawyer and inadvertently puts her name on the radar of everyone in the chess world. This relatively light-hearted teen romance follows Mallory’s meteoric rise to the top of the competitive chess world while her relationship with Nolan shifts from rivalry to camaraderie to romance. Although I typically don’t like the trope in which a character tries something new and is immediately great at it, this particular book partially explains that away: Mallory did have excellent chess training as a child, she just didn’t play in official tournaments. I was on the fence about whether this book was quite good enough to make my list, but I’ve decided to include it for the sole reason that it made me nostalgic for my chess-and-scrabble phase. (I was better at Scrabble but spent a lot more time working on my chess) While this book may not be quite up to the same literary standard as some of the other books on this list, it was a fun read that made its subject matter very appealing. Parents may want to be forewarned that this book does contain some sexual content.
Starlings by Amanda Linsmeier
In this dark fantasy, seventeen-year-old Kit Starling and her mother visit the small picturesque town of Rosemont to spend time with Agatha, the grandmother that Kit had thought was long dead. Kit is surprised to discover that her family is highly respected in the community and that she is treated as a guest of honor. After a series of disturbing events, Kit learns that her distant ancestor made a pact with a monster. He keeps the town safe and prosperous, but in return, every woman in the Starling family belongs to him. Kit is supposed to officially give herself to the monster at the upcoming local festival. Now she’s on a tight timeline to figure out how to extricate herself from a promise she never made. The gradual shift from an atmospheric but realistic setting to full-blown dark fantasy is so perfectly paced that the story maintains an aura of suspense even though most of the plot twists are predictable.
Nonfiction:
The Mona Lisa Vanishes by Nicholas Day, illustrated by Brett Helquist
On August 21, 1911, a man walked out of the Louvre art museum in Paris with a painting hidden under his coat. Despite the fact that this was the time and birthplace of forensic science, law enforcement had few clues and no suspects. It took over two years for the Mona Lisa to return to the Louvre, and in that time, it became the most famous painting in the world. Interspersed with the story of the high-profile investigation, this book describes the life and times of Leonardo da Vinci and the sequence of events that led to him painting the Mona Lisa. This well-researched YA-oriented nonfiction book provides readers with a wealth of information not only on one historical event and the contextual information about two different eras, but also on the history of detective fiction, forensic science, and some aspects of art history. Thanks to its short chapters, its humorous tone that frequently addresses the readers directly, and its illustrations, this book feels like a much lighter read than it actually is. Recommended for middle-schoolers, high-schoolers, and adults alike.
The Green Piano: How Little Me Found Music by Roberta Flack with Tonya Bolden, illustrated by Hayden Goodman
In this autobiographical picture book, singer/songwriter Roberta Flack describes her early childhood experiences with music. Although her family wasn’t rich, both her parents had musical talent and introduced her to the piano at a young age. Young Roberta dreamed of having her own piano, and one day when she was nine years old, her father found an “old, ratty, beat-up, weather-worn, faded” piano in a junkyard. He brought it home, cleaned it up, tuned it, and painted it green. Roberta grew up to be a talented singer and songwriter with a few number one hits and Grammy awards to her name, and she largely credits that green piano for her later success. Her story, told in lyrical text and cheerful, brown and pastel-toned illustrations, reminds readers how much can be accomplished with some creative problem solving and lots of practice.
Why Do Elephants Have Big Ears? Questions– and Surprising Answers– About Animals by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page
This nonfiction picture book is the kind of book that could easily get lost in the mix, the kind of book that could go months or even years without getting checked out from the children’s nonfiction section of the library because it’s so general that it gets shelved in the beginning of the animal section instead of being shelved under a specific animal’s call number. Kids are much more likely to ask “Where are the books about elephants?” than “Where can I find a question-and-answer book with fun facts about a variety of different animals?” But it deserves attention for its breadth of information, its visually appealing and child-friendly format, and its unique illustrative style, which somehow succeeds in creating realistic pictures via collage. Recommended for kids anywhere in the elementary-school age range, although children younger than about eight will likely need help with some of the vocabulary.
How Birds Sleep by Sarah Pedry and by David Obuchowski
We all know that everyone sleeps, even animals, but have you ever seen a bird sleep? Even ornithologists find it difficult to study birds’ sleep habits. The authors of this beautiful nonfiction picture book have gathered facts on where and how various types of birds sleep. The Vernal Hanging Parrot of Thailand hangs upside down to sleep, the Black-Legged Kittiwake sleeps afloat on the surface of the North Atlantic waves, and the Sooty Tern native to the Caribbean can sleep while flying. The full-page illustrations depict a variety of habitats at nighttime. Succinct enough for a toddler but informative enough for school-age readers, this book could be used in a library storytime, in an educational context, or as a cozy family bedtime story.
Bake Infinite Pie with X+Y
Also
Fiona the Fruit Bat 
Brown is Warm, Black is Bright 
Cats Can
Hello, Moon 
The Year We Learned to Fly
Get On The Ice, Mo 
Biscuit and the Great Fall Day
It’s a Sign!
The Princess in Black #9: The Princess in Black and the Mermaid Princess 
Teeny Houdini #1: The Disappearing Act 
Magic Tree House #36: Sunlight on the Snow Leopard 
Wildoak 
Yonder 
Riley’s Ghost
Summer’s Edge
Building 
The Tide Pool Waits 
Off to See the Sea 
Eyes That Kiss in the Corners 
Bright Star 
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel 
The Midnight Fair 
Watercress 
Someone Builds the Dream 
See the Dog: Three Stories About a Cat 
Daniel Visits a Pumpkin Patch 
Camp Time in California 
Stuntboy, in the Meantime 
One Smart Sheep 
Friends Forever 
Allergic 
Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark
The In-Between
The Beatryce Prophecy 
One Jar of Magic 
Ophie’s Ghosts 
Recipe for Disaster 
A Soft Place to Land 
Long Lost 
Red, White, and Whole 
The One Thing You’d Save
Amber and Clay 
A Sitting in St. James 
Instructions for Dancing 
In the Wild Light 
The Curse of the Mummy: Uncovering Tutankhamun’s Tomb
Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown 
Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre 
The Genius Under the Table: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain 
I Am Every Good Thing 
When Winter Comes: Discovering Wildlife in Our Snowy Woods 
Two Little Trains 
Under the Lilacs 
Bedtime for Sweet Creatures 
Welcoming Elijah: A Passover Tale with a Tale 
Llama Unleashes the Alpacalypse 
Jack Goes West 
What About Worms!? 
See the Cat: Three Stories About a Dog 
The Princess in Black and the Giant Problem 
Late Lunch with Llamas 
Narwhal on a Sunny Night 
Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom 
When Stars Are Scattered 
Twins 
Cinders and Sparrows 
Fighting Words 
Every Missing Piece 
We Dream of Space 
Prairie Lotus 
Here in the Real World 
How to Disappear Completely
Clap When You Land
On The Horizon: World War II Reflections 
Mary Underwater 
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder 
What I Carry 
Echo Mountain 
The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh 
How We Got to the Moon: The People, Technology, and Daring Feats of Science Behind Humanity’s Greatest Adventure 
This book is geared for an older target audience than most picture books are; I’d recommend it for second and third graders. (Or for unusually precocious kindergartners and first graders) The narrator himself is only just about to start first grade, but the plot is complex and potentially confusing. In this case, I feel like that’s a positive thing, because it’s a thought-provoking and interesting story. The protagonist encounters a tiger on his family’s camping trip, but it’s unclear whether we’re supposed to take the tiger literally. Perhaps it’s a dream, or maybe it’s all in his imagination. The potential explanation that I’ve decided I like best is that the “tiger” is actually a cat. It’s really there, but only in the boy’s imagination is it a tiger. (I get the vague sense that this book is at least partially influenced by the Calvin & Hobbes comics) Whichever way you interpret it, this is a sentimental story about the transition from early childhood to being a big kid. All of this is set against gorgeous scenery that, in my opinion, is already enough to make this book stand out as an especially notable picture book. 
This wordless sci-fi picture book shows a class of spacesuit-clad students exploring the surface of the moon, then accidentally leaving one child behind. Before eventually being rescued, she befriends a group of aliens and shares her crayons with them. None of the other people from Earth ever see the aliens, and in fact, the protagonist gets blamed for drawing on the moon rocks, when it was in fact the aliens who did it. It seems to be implied that the aliens don’t speak in a human language and have no way of communicating with the girl, but they bond over the experience of creating art together. While that might not be a completely original concept, it’s generally not one that you’d find in a book with such a young target audience. I felt that the wordless-picture-book format was a poignant way to express the idea and that the science fiction setting gives the story a distinctive tone. Even the use of the quiet-kid-in-school trope doesn’t feel like a cliche in this setting. I’d recommend this book for kids in kindergarten through second grade. But obviously, since it has no words, that has nothing to do with reading level; I’m basing that entirely upon its subject matter.
This is essentially a sequel to a 2018 book, 
On Friday, Llama will destroy the world. So begins this goofy story that blends a science fiction concept, absurdist humor, and a cutesy, cartoonish aesthetic. Admittedly, it probably has more adult appeal than child appeal. Despite the bright, cheerful, child-friendly illustrations, the actual plot will go over the heads of most preschool-aged children. But as I wrote in my earlier blog post linked above, I think that there are some kids out there who will love it, and moreover, it’s always a positive thing when adults enjoy the books that they read to children. So, if nothing else, I highly recommend this book as something fun to have on hand at family gatherings to entertain relatives of all ages.
Henry Bear is tired of his parents’ antics. They always want him to stay up late when he’d rather sleep, they keep feeding him chocolate cake, and they try to get him to stay home from school to play with them. They even keep him from doing his homework because they need his help drawing on the walls. It is eventually revealed that this bizarre situation is the result of Henry Bear’s birthday wish last year. This year, he’ll have to use his birthday wish to set things right. This book is quite a bit longer than the previous two books I’ve described, and it has much more complex sentence structures and many multi-syllable words. The text is also arranged in paragraphs, although most of those paragraphs are pretty short because this story consists mostly of dialogue. It’s written at an advanced first-grade or early second-grade level.
And now we’re back to a beginning chapter book that’s great for readers as young as first grade or maybe even kindergarten. In this seventh book of the series, our monster-fighting ninja-princess heroine follows a cloud of stench to the goat pasture. The Princess in Black and her friend the Goat Avenger can’t use their ninja moves against the smell, but they have some success in fanning it away. Unfortunately, in so doing, they accidentally blow the cloud of stench into neighboring kingdoms. The various princesses from those kingdoms each assume their own monster-fighting alter egos and join the Princess in Black in her task. The smell is coming from Monster Land, the entrance to which is in the goat pasture. When the other monsters kick out the stinky monster, it’s up to the Princess in Black and her friends to wage bathtime. (Waging bathtime involves the same ninja moves as waging battle, but it also requires soap and water) The Princess in Black books are always entertaining, and this one lives up to the high standard set by the early books. It is worth noting that the cast of recurring characters has grown a little too large for the newer books in the series to function as stand-alone stories. In order to fully appreciate this book, I recommend reading at least a couple of the others first.
This bizarre science fiction graphic novel begins in a school auditorium as the cast and crew prepare the sets for tomorrow morning’s dress rehearsal of 
This graphic novel is set in the kingdom of Albion, which is essentially the same thing as Tudor England. Some of the characters correspond to specific people in English history, although the parallels only go so far; this is an original, fictional story. The main character is Margaret, a girl who has spent her entire life so far in a convent on a tiny island, mostly isolated from the rest of the world. Then Queen Eleanor loses the throne to her sister and ends up on that same island. Although Margaret and Eleanor don’t get along, they end up working together to plan Eleanor’s return to the throne. As it so happens, Margaret is Eleanor’s half-sister who was hidden away as a baby in order to protect her from her sisters and their feud over the crown. The political intrigue makes for an interesting story, and anyone with an interest in European history will enjoy comparing and contrasting this book with the events of actual Tudor England. In general, I’d recommend it for the younger side of the YA age range, (that is, middle school) but there will be a lot of somewhat younger readers who will also enjoy it.
Raina Telgemeier is extremely popular among grade school girls; it’s a big deal when she comes out with a new graphic novel. This is her fifth one (besides the graphic novel adaptations of the 
This was the first 2019 middle grade novel that I read, and I never did find anything that topped it. This book has it all: a quirky main character with a sad backstory and a distinctive narrative voice, a diverse cast of well-developed secondary characters, an important mission that has to be achieved on a very tight timeline, family secrets that are revealed very gradually, and a cute kitten. Coyote and her father Rodeo live in an old repurposed school bus that they drive all around the country, never stopping anywhere for very long. As we later realize, this is because Rodeo can’t come to terms with the deaths of Coyote’s mother and sisters. He is deliberately avoiding any semblance of normalcy that reminds him of his old home and family life. Although Coyote is lonely, she’s relatively content with their eccentric nomadic lifestyle until she hears from her grandmother that the park in her hometown is going to be demolished. Unbeknownst to anyone else, Coyote and her mother and sisters wrote letters to each other and buried them in that park shortly before the tragedy. Now Coyote is on a mission to get back home before the park is demolished, but she has to do so without letting her father know what she’s planning. She knows that he doesn’t want to dig up the past, either literally or metaphorically, so she has to come up with other reasons to travel in that direction. Along the way, Coyote and Rodeo pick up a number of other characters who are all on various different journeys. Amidst the constant, fast-paced action, there are lots of poignant and bittersweet moments and lots of meaningful points about friendship, family, grief, and the importance of having a home. 
It might seem a little strange that a deaf person would be fascinated by radios, but twelve-year-old Iris is quite the expert at repairing them. She is so knowledgeable and perceptive that she can rely on vibrations to tell when she’s succeeded at fixing them. One day, Iris’s teacher tells the class about a whale (whom marine biologists have named “Blue 55”) that can’t communicate with other whales because his whale song is at a completely different pitch. Iris relates to this dilemma because of the isolation that her deafness causes, and she feels an urge to help this whale by finding a way to communicate with him. She emails Andi, a marine biologist who is trying to track the whale, and suggests using underwater speakers to play sounds at Blue 55’s pitch back at him. In fact, she does some research, seeks out assistance from the music teacher, and uses her technology skills to make the audio files herself. The researchers are interested in Iris’s idea, but she later finds out that they aren’t planning to follow through. This is unacceptable, so Iris run away from home to find the whale and play the whale song for him. What began as a realistic story turns into a wild and exciting adventure, eventually reaching a climactic (and unrealistic) scene in which Iris jumps into the water and meets Blue 55 face to face. Ultimately, it’s a feel-good story about a strong-willed girl whose limitations are no match for her determination, intelligence, and passion.
Miranda is being sent to stay with her mother’s childhood friend in the small Florida vacation town of August Isle. She’d actually always wanted to visit August Isle, but she didn’t want it to be like this; she feels abandoned and unloved when her mom goes on work trips. Miranda decides that she wants to use this opportunity to learn more about her mother’s childhood. At one point, she and two new friends investigate a local legend by sneaking into a house that they think is abandoned. But the house’s owner has just returned, and he catches them. Instead of calling the police or the children’s parents, he demands that they help him organize the things he’s brought back from his travels. He ends up being a source of fascinating stories and valuable life lessons. Meanwhile, Miranda does gradually learn more about her mother’s story, including a dark family secret that explains the emotional disconnect she’s felt for years. The summertime vacation-y setting and the air of mystery is a common combination for middle grade novels, but this particular book stands out as an especially good such story because of Miranda’s mature and introspective narrative voice and because of the book’s insightful messages about the different ways in which people cope with tragedy and the importance of acknowledging the past. 
When this book came out back in the spring, I was a little indecisive about where it belonged at my library. As the subtitle indicates, it’s technically a book of poetry, which would put it in the 811 section of the nonfiction collection. But most of those books don’t get checked out very often. It’s also technically a picture book, and a particularly pretty one at that. But it has a lot more text than most picture books, plus lots of nonfiction information about trains. So we ended up putting it in the nonfiction section with a 625 call number. (That’s the trains section within the transportation section within the technology section) For this list, though, I’m classifying it as a book of poetry. That’s because, instead of trying to figure out where library patrons are most likely to be looking if they’re interested in this type of book, now I’m just trying to identify the aspects that make it so appealing and distinctive. In my opinion, the answer is the literary quality of the poems themselves. The language is descriptive and generally sticks to a meter and rhyme scheme, and each poem is laid out on the page in a format that somehow seems fitting for the topic of the poem. For example, the poem “Tracks” has very short lines that are printed diagonally, lining up with the individual railroad ties in the picture. There are lots of beautiful picture books about trains, and there are lots of very informative nonfiction books about trains, but there aren’t so many poetry books that also happen to be as visually appealing and informative as this book. 
Probably the most important criterion that I look for when reading a novel in verse is that there should be a reason for the verse format. It should express things better than it could if it was written in prose. (Public service announcement: “prose” does not mean poetry. It’s the opposite. Prose is the term for regular, non-metrical written language. Please don’t say that something is “written in prose” if you mean “written in verse”.) That’s definitely the case here because a lot of the “poems” are actually written in such a way that they look like javascript. This novel in verse doesn’t just tell a story while sounding poetic, it also directly demonstrates the logic of javascript. It’s fascinating just how effective that format is for describing Emmy’s experiences, feelings, and internal conflicts. The syntax for things like variables, strings, loops, conditionals can be used to describe patterns in everyday life or to list the factors involved in making a decision. The fact that this kind of “poem” even works illustrates a fascinating connection between everyday language and technical semantics, between art and technology, and between creativity and logic. Music also plays a large role in the story, and there’s a strongly implied connection between music and coding. This is the kind of book that introduces kids to new ideas and even new hobbies, and that’s always a good thing for a book to do.
This book falls on the line between middle grade and YA; it’s probably best for middle-school-aged readers. It’s a complex adventure story that starts in a realistic setting but has fantasy elements and ghost-story vibes. Charlie O’Reilly is the only one who remembers his younger brother Liam, who suddenly disappeared a year ago. He’s learned to stop talking about Liam because his friend Ana is the only one who believes him, and his parents have been making him see a child psychiatrist. Secretly, Charlie has been trying to solve this mystery all year, but now he’s finally experiencing some odd things that seem to be clues, such as finding his comic books rearranged, and having vivid dreams in which he is a boy named Kieran living during the Irish potato famine. Ana is skeptical that these things have any significance, but she loyally goes along with his investigation, which leads him to seek help from a teenage boy who he knows from baseball practice. What follows is a bizarre adventure into an otherworldly orphan asylum populated by children who have been forgotten by the outside world because they had at some point wished they didn’t exist. Like many of the other books on this list, this novel has lots of twists and turns that gradually reveal a dark but satisfying backstory.
This was another National Book Award finalist, but at the time that I wrote the blog post linked above, I had barely started reading the book and didn’t have anything to say about it other than to comment on the genre and writing style. I can now add that it’s very interesting and I loved it. It’s told from the perspective of a ghost, but the main character is an alive teenage girl named Frankie (short for Francesca) in an orphanage in Chicago at the time of World War II. She technically isn’t an orphan, but her father and stepmother have decided that they aren’t able to support Frankie and her brother and sister. At first, the ghost narrator focuses so much on Frankie’s life that it’s easy for the reader to briefly forget that this isn’t a third-person narrative; there is a specific character telling the story. But later, the ghost (who eventually reveals that her name is Pearl) begins to spend more time away from the orphanage, usually with another ghost named Marguerite and a fox she calls Wolf. Pearl becomes interested in Marguerite’s tragic backstory in which she is murdered by the woman who ends up marrying her lover. It is slowly revealed that Pearl also has a tragic love story, although many of the details aren’t revealed until the end. Meanwhile, Frankie falls in love with a boy named Sam, and her experiences mirror Pearl’s history in many ways. By the end of the book, Frankie and Pearl are essentially taking turns being the focal point of the story. An author’s note at the end of the book reveals that Frankie’s experiences are based on those of the author’s mother-in-law and that this book was a labor of love that took well over a decade to write. That doesn’t surprise me; this book is an incredibly detailed masterpiece in which every word feels deliberate and purposeful.
I recommend using this essentially as a reference book; it’s sort of an index to the 
This book won the National Book Award in the Young People’s Literature category. But even though it was marketed (and awarded) as a YA nonfiction book, I think it could absolutely be considered a book for grown-ups, too. Certainly, most adult readers will find facts they didn’t know by reading it. I love the very concept of this book. It zooms in on one particular year in history and examines the causes and effects of some of that year’s newsworthy events. In my opinion, every year is eventful enough that there’d be plenty of material for such a book, but 1919 was an especially pivotal year in a number of ways. There were landmark events regarding issues such as women’s suffrage, race relations, labor laws, and prohibition, not to mention the fact that World War I had just ended and the industrial revolution was relatively recent history. These topics are all included in this book, with detailed discussion of the context. There are lots of photographs, which keeps the book visually appealing and further contributing to the context. Each chapter includes a timeline of relevant events, most of which extend well beyond and well before 1919. There also is a “One Hundred Years Later” section at the end of each chapter. In some cases, those sections express political opinions about current events, which I initially felt was a drawback to this book, but in retrospect, it does serve a purpose. Readers who don’t agree with the author’s opinions can still appreciate the parallels and the contrast between different time periods, and teen readers can benefit from taking a moment to think about the ways in which history does or doesn’t support their own political views.
A Big Mooncake for Little Star
The Itchy Book 
The Princess in Black and the Science Fair Scare 
Crush 
The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle 
They Lost Their Heads: What Happened to Washington’s Teeth, Einstein’s Brain, and Other Famous Body Parts
Here we’re moving on to a picture book that 
What’s your favorite animal? It’s probably not the snail. As Escargot the beautiful French snail points out, nobody’s favorite animal is the snail. In this interactive story, the reader accompanies Escargot on his journey towards the salad at the end of the book. (We are frequently reminded of the croutons and light vinaigrette) Along the way, Escargot will explain what is so great about snails, and will also let the reader know how much he dislikes carrots. (Spoiler: Escargot later changes his mind about this) The conversational, humorous tone is enough to make this book a fun read, but Escargot himself is a unique, likable, and memorable character. There is a genuine sense of friendship and affection between reader and character. At least, 
This is another “Elephant & Piggie Like Reading!” book. I have a feeling that we’ll see this series dominating early readers for a while to come. In this one, three birds take turns pressing a little red button that does nothing. At least, Yellow Bird says the button does nothing. But the button surprises Blue Bird. (It’s so easy to press!) And it makes Red Bird sad, because it doesn’t surprise him. Yellow Bird is adamant that the button does nothing, and when his friends say otherwise, he gets mad. Blue Bird and Red Bird attribute his anger to the button, of course. In the end, (spoiler!) they all decide that the button makes them funny, and they like being funny. Because the birds are so expressive, the wide range of emotions in this story are hilarious. (But if you’re over the age of about seven or eight, you’ll have to suspend your maturity to get the most out of it.)
Technically, this book (along with the next three books in the series) came out in 2016, but Isadora didn’t show up in America until this past August. We Americans still only have the first two books, although number three comes out this month. Isadora Moon’s mother is a fairy and her father is a vampire, so these books are a comical blend of girly and spooky. Between her unique heritage and her efforts to always do the right thing, Isadora is a highly likable protagonist. Her books are perfect for 
After the success of Jamieson’s debut graphic novel 
Blue Montgomery is cursed to lose at any game or contest, and Tumble Wilson is a dedicated hero-in-training. Together, they aim to get rid of Blue’s family curse. They aren’t quite sure how, but it has something to do with the mysterious golden alligator in the Okefenokee Swamp. When I read this back in the beginning of December, I started writing up a review for it, which I never quite finished. I had quite a lot to say about the characterization, especially about the backstory and motivations of the girl who calls herself Tumble. I also had a lot to say about the charming Southern small-town setting (think Sheila Turnage or Natalie Lloyd) and the half-realistic, half-fantasy vibe. I wouldn’t quite call it magical realism, because it doesn’t have the understated quality typical of the magic parts in magical realism, but it’s something close to that. For the sake of brevity, I’m not going to expand on those points here, but I do want to emphasize that I loved this book. It’s about family, friendship, heroism, and destiny, but I’d say it’s mostly about friendship.
This book has garnered less attention and praise than most of the others on this list, and I’m not really sure why. It’s poignant and emotional, beautifully written, full of likable characters, and most importantly, it’s an interesting story. Emmaline Beaumont feels like she’s lost both her parents; her mother has died and her grief-stricken father is obsessed with building a machine that he hopes can bring her back. After two years, Emmaline has had enough. One night, she pours a cupful of tea into the machine with the intention of sabotaging it. Instead, her tea turns out to be the ingredient that makes the machine work. Fueled by the memories associated with tea, the machine brings Emmaline’s mother back just long enough for a new cup of tea. There’s just one catch. Once the machine uses a memory, that memory is gone. Emmaline keeps this all a secret, except from her best friends, twins Gully and Oliver. Eventually, the machine’s success is also discovered by Emmaline’s father and an elderly neighbor. Each of the characters is faced with decisions and questions. Which is more valuable, a memory of a loved one, or a chance for one more conversation with that loved one? 
This one wouldn’t have made the list if I had posted this shortly after New Year’s as I had intended; I only just finished reading the book a few days ago. But it’s actually probably my very favorite middle grade novel of the year. Unfortunately, it isn’t eligible for the Newbery because a) it’s not American; the author’s home and the original place of publication are the UK. b) It was originally published in 2016. The 2017 pub date is for the American edition. But Newbery eligibility aside, it’s a beautifully written narrative with plenty to say about family, grief, and identity. Set in 1919, it also discusses the aftermath of World War I and the horrors of psychiatric treatment in its early history. (Imagine Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s 
Out of Wonder: Poems Celebrating Poets 
I read this book solely because it won the National Book Award, and I was a little sorry that it won, only because it was actually the only book on the shortlist that I hadn’t at least started prior to the announcement of the winners. But it is a very good book, fully deserving of that award. It follows three teenagers who are biological siblings, but have grown up in different families. Grace, an only child in her adoptive family, recently had a baby herself. After giving up her child for adoption, she wants to bond with her own biological family. Maya, her sassy and talkative younger bio sister, has grown up in a wealthy, picture-perfect family, but behind the scenes, her parents’ marriage is in trouble and her mother struggles with alcoholism. Joaquin, the oldest of the three, has spent his entire childhood and adolescence in foster care, and only now, at the age of seventeen, does he have foster parents who want to adopt him. Mixed in with all of this is the drama of teenage romance and break-ups; each of the three protagonists has a relationship-based subplot going on. Despite being near-strangers, they end up relying on each other for emotional support, gradually confiding in each other, and eventually, working together to learn more about their family history.
Fifteen-year-old Julia Reyes is independent, outspoken, and a bit of a troublemaker. Her Mexican-born mother despairs that Julia doesn’t know how to make a decent tortilla and isn’t religious. Julia hates that her family doesn’t give her more freedom and doesn’t support her plans to go away to college and become a famous writer. She isn’t at all like her sister Olga, who recently died at the age of twenty-two. Olga was domestic, unambitious, and well-behaved. She took one class a semester at community college so that she could live at home and work a dull office job. This book covers a couple years of Julia’s teenage experience, which includes many clashes with her mother, a belated quinceanera, boy drama, struggles with depression, a trip to Mexico, and some detective work that leads her to learn secrets about both her sister and her mother. Just like everybody’s real life, Julia’s story is full of overlapping problems, complicated relationships, and questions that aren’t satisfactorily answered. I’ve seen online critiques of this book that call Julia an unlikable character, but in my opinion, she’s a good character because she’s so believable. Her terse and sassy voice (both as a first-person narrator and in dialogue) are one of the things that sets her so far apart from her mother and sister, which is kind of the whole point.
This beautiful nonfiction picture book is a quick and easy read, well-suited to be read aloud to young kids or to be read alone by older kids. (I’d recommend it to anyone over the age of about five or six, and it’s at about a third-grade reading level.) But it covers its topic very thoroughly. It specifies details such as how much a baby robin eats at various stages, how the young birds learn how to fly, and what predators they face. This information is all conveyed from the perspective of the baby robins, giving the narrative a conversational feel and a narrative voice that you would usually only find in fiction. But the real kicker is the artwork, which is so detailed and realistic that it also has educational value. Readers will gain very precise knowledge of what a baby bird looks like at different stages, from the moment it hatches until its first molting as winter approaches. In between, we watch the birds as they grow feathers, leave the nest, and learn to feed themselves. 
I really can’t say enough about what a great book this is. Sure, it’s long, and it definitely is a bit dark. (After all, it’s largely about mental illness, and neither Vincent nor Theo had an easy life or met a peaceful end) But the writing style, the author’s attention to detail in describing setting, the honest portrayal of complicated relationships… It’s all very vivid and gripping in a way that you wouldn’t expect from a nonfiction book with tiny little print. This book has been reviewed, marketed, and cataloged as a YA book, but I think it holds just as much appeal for adults, particularly those in their twenties or early thirties who can relate to the early-adulthood struggles that Vincent and Theo face. (Jobs that don’t work out, the pursuit of purpose and meaning, failed romantic relationships, financial hardships, the frustration of relying on family members when you want to be independent, etc.) The absolute best thing about this book, though, is the constant references to art theory and technique, whether it be through metaphor, wordplay, or emphasis on “painting” the scene. Some of it is actually pretty subtle, but it all contributes to a satisfying sense of cohesiveness. 
There are positive things I could say about the educational value of this book or about the descriptive, yet elegantly concise text. But what makes this book outstanding is the artwork. The word beautiful doesn’t even begin to cover it. It’s very realistic, it makes very effective use of shadows, (even though it mostly takes place in the dark anyway) and perhaps most importantly, the variety of the angles of perspective make each double-page spread as eye-catching and intriguing as the last.
Here is one of the top two on my Caldecott wish list. (Don’t ask me to choose between them.) I love everything about this book: the style of the artwork, the beautiful simplicity of the text, the little details that you’ll only notice if you move through the book slowly, the calm and hopeful mood… This is not so much a book for library storytimes as it is a book to check out, (or buy) take home, and read again and again and again and again. I hope that a generation or two from now, this book will be considered a classic and will still be read and enjoyed by many.
This is the other book that would like to see win the Caldecott, and I think there’s a good chance of that. As a cat encounters various other animals, the artistic style, color scheme, and even the features of the cat change to demonstrate others’ perception of the cat. For instance, on the dog’s double-page, the cat looks scrawny and a little mean, while the mouse sees the cat as a scary, ferocious monster and the flea sees an expanse of fur. The text is simple, short, and repetitive, making it the type of book that even very young children can enjoy. However, older children and adults will be able to appreciate the creativity of the art.
It isn’t easy to put together a good story using a controlled vocabulary suitable for a beginning reader, especially when the target audience is absolute beginners who aren’t ready for words of more than four letters or sentences of more than four words. A lot of books at that level aren’t really stories with a plot, or at best, they have very simple plots. This one is an exception. Despite its brevity and controlled vocabulary, this book is a fun fantasy about a boy who uses a pinwheel to fly out of his bedroom window one windy day. Obviously, the details are in the pictures, which are also distinctive. I’ve asked Google what the term is for the stylized, sketch-like edges in these pictures, but I can’t find such a term and I’m starting to think that there’s no official name for it. So I’m calling it sketch edges. The artwork in this book is made distinctive by its use of sketch edges.
Princess Magnolia and her unicorn Frimplepants are meeting Princess Sneezewort for brunch, but while they’re on their way, the need arises for them to switch to their secret identities to solve a monster problem. The monsters turn out to be nothing but bunnies, and the Princess in Black doesn’t believe they’re dangerous. But they turn out to be a bigger challenge than she had anticipated. This is the third book in a series that is loved my many a six- or seven- year old girl, and for good reason. Who can resist a monster-battling ninja princess? Especially when her adventures are funny, illustrated in full color, and written in easy-to-read large text? I like to recommend this series for kids who are transitioning from readers to “real” chapter books.
I think that what I like most about this book is the world-building. Even though we as readers don’t know anything initially about the history, social or political hierarchy, or ethnic groups of the world where this story takes place, we can still follow both the political aspects of the story, and the budding friendship between two young people whose lives are completely different. Despite the politics that dominate the plot, this is also a high-action adventure. The art itself also deserves some praise, especially for the architectural details that bring the nameless city alive on the page. I can see it appealing to readers as young as fourth or fifth grade, but this is also a graphic novel with appeal factors for teens.
Retellings of well-known fairy tales have been pretty popular in children’s and teen’s literature for a number of years now, but this one stands out as an especially good one. That’s partly because of the quality of the artwork. My favorite detail is the use of colors. Most of the drawings are black and white, or in some cases, sepia -toned. So the few colored objects- blood, the apple, the blue of the glass window, and the few full-colored pages depicting the happy ending– really stand out as being significant and even poignant. But the other fun thing about this book is the setting. Snow White is a story that isn’t typically moved away from its original Germanic setting, but here, it’s placed in the twenties. (1928 New York City, to be specific, just at the dawn of the Great Depression) The stepmother is a Broadway star rather than literal royalty, the woods are transformed to Hooverville, and the dwarves are replaced with a band of street urchins. This graphic novel has appeal factors both for children and teens. It has very little text and will be manageable for even a very reluctant reader.
Eleven-year-old Perry has never known any home other than the Blue River Co-Ed Correctional Facility… that is, prison. But when the new district attorney finds out about this arrangement, he removes Perry and takes him home as a foster child. Although the district attorney happens to be Perry’s best friend’s stepfather, Perry is unhappy being separated from his mother, who is in prison for accidental manslaughter. This book contains a lot of the schoolwork/ friendship/ mean kids at school themes typical of middle-grade fiction, but Perry’s personality and backstory are distinctive enough to make the book feel innovative and even informative. It also has an element of mystery, because Perry is trying to figure out the details of the event that put his mother in prison. I think that Perry’s story be a great prompt for some very interesting discussions (or internal monologues) among kids between fourth and eighth grade, not only about incarceration and unique living situations, but also about the sometimes subtle differences between right and wrong, or between good people and bad people.
Part adventure, part fantasy, and part thoroughly-researched historical fiction, this middle-grade novel is one of the most entertaining and intellectual children’s books of the year. I think it would by my second Newbery wish. (After Wolf Hollow, listed in the young adult category below) It’s the year 1242, and a group of travelers who cross paths in an inn start telling what they know about the three children who are the subject of all the talk in France. The collection-of-tales format is a bit reminiscent of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, while most of the events are drawn from French legends, folklore, and historical events. I picked up pretty quickly on the fact that Jeanne, one of the three protagonists, was modeled after Joan of Arc, but before reading the author’s note, (which I found far more interesting than many author’s notes) I didn’t realize just how much this book is grounded in facts and in legends that are just as old as those facts. I don’t have time or space to enumerate all the things I love about the book, which is just one more reason that I recommend that you read it for yourselves.
When I heard that Stewart (author of The Mysterious Benedict Society) was coming out with a new book this year, I knew it was one I didn’t want to miss. The Secret Keepers did not disappoint. It’s a complex mystery as well as an exciting adventure with science fiction/ fantasy aspects, featuring a boy who finds a special watch, which is being sought by the sinister and mysterious authorities of his sort-of-but-not-really dystopian city. (It’s 501 pages, by the way, and not a line of that is unnecessary or redundant. I did say it’s complex.) It is worth acknowledging that this is a book with a very specific and narrow target audience. It’s a good book for those kinds of precocious kids who can spend hours on end completely engrossed in a book, who are such avid and skilled readers that nothing is really a challenge for them, and who prefer the fantastical to the realistic.
This is another one about slavery, set a few decades later. Grace has been summoned to work in the big house, which brings a whole new set of responsibilities and dangers. Grace struggles to keep her mouth shut about the injustices and cruelty that the slaves face, and after she gets in trouble for vocalizing her “rightiness voice”, she and her family must run away into the swamp. The Great Dismal Swamp is a real place in Virginia and North Carolina where some (perhaps many) runaway slaves did hide. This book is about the hardships of slavery and the moral dilemmas that arise when one doesn’t have the freedom to do what they know is right, but it’s also a look into a historical facet that isn’t often discussed.
When it comes to YA literature, most of the books that I love most are books that have intellectual or philosophical themes, books that keep the reader thinking about the point of the story long after they’ve finished it. This isn’t one of those. I certainly could find things to say about The Gallery’s discussion of social issues, about power and how dangerous it is in the wrong hands, or about the theme of secrecy, lies, and cover-ups. I also love that it is set in the 1920’s, a time period that I think is under-represented in literature for young people. But the real reason I like this book is simply that it’s exciting and fascinating. It tells the story of a spunky twelve-year old named Martha O’Doyle as she begins working alongside her mother as an employee of J. Archer Sewell. The wealthy newspaper magnate’s mysterious wife is an invalid, suffering from an illness of the mind. But Martha begins to suspect that Mrs. Sewell is being confined against her will and is attempting to convey secret messages. When Martha resolves to help her, mystery and adventure lies in store.
This is a story about lies and secrets, about hiding and being trapped, about blame and trust, about right and wrong. It’s a story where every seemingly random scene or anecdote is important, where every character is a major character, and where the action doesn’t have to slow down to make room for beautiful writing. It’s a book where the heroine is brave, kind-hearted, and innocent (but yet very realistic and believable) and faces difficult and dangerous dilemmas. In short, this novel is literature at its finest. If I had to choose just one book to name as the best of 2016, this would be it. It’s 1943, and Annabelle is a twelve-year-old in a small, rural Pennsylvania town. Her quiet life is turned upside down when Betty Glenberry comes to town. Betty bullies Annabelle and demonstrates such callous cruelty that, after a thrown rock injures a classmate, Annabelle immediately suspects Betty. But Betty accuses Toby, an eccentric World War I veteran who is friends with Annabelle’s family. Annabelle knows that Toby is innocent, but evidence is stacking up against him, and she can only defend and protect him by breaking rules and keeping dangerous secrets. I would strongly recommend this book to preteens, teens, and adults.
This beautiful picture-book biography describes the childhood and early career of the iconic jazz musician Louis Armstrong. Although the book acknowledges the poverty and petty crimes that played such a large role in Armstrong’s early life, it focuses on his lifelong love for music and has a cheerful tone. The text is just stylized enough to have a musical quality; Booklist describes it as snappy and The Horn Book compares the “short bursts of text” to jazz riffs. And then there are the illustrations. Colorful, bright, and happy, they complement the text and set the mood. I recommend this book for elementary-school-aged children, although it will be a light read for children at the older side of that range.
Yes, this is a Best Book of 2016 in two different categories. In addition to being a great graphic novel, it’s a quality nonfiction book about historically significant events. There are lots of wonderful historical fiction books about the Civil Rights movement, but this book gives a different– and 100 % factual– perspective, since the primary author was involved in organizing significant events in the movement. One benefit of the graphic novel format is that this book is accessible to a wide range of ages. My library actually has it in the adult collection, but this book has usually been classified as a YA book and even won the National Book Award for Young People’s literature. Many middle-graders could also read and appreciate this book. Regardless of age, most readers will learn a lot about the famous Freedom Summer of 1964, and about the politics and disagreements within the Civil Rights movement.
Librarian Magdalena 